Z. Wang and Doehler Advance to Finals of Draw One; Andrienko, Cheng, D. Wang Notch Singles Victories
HANOVER, NH -- The Yale men's tennis team had a busy day on Saturday, playing 18 total doubles and singles matches at the Dartmouth Invitational. The Elis headed into the tournament's second day following an impressive performance on Friday, which saw them post a 7-3 overall singles record. Although Saturday's matches presented tougher competition and higher adversity, especially in singles, the Bulldogs hung tough and will send a number of players into the event's third day. Most notable was the team's strong doubles play across the Invitational's three separate doubles draws.
Saturday's action began with doubles play. In the first round of Draw One, Yale juniors Stefan Doehler and Ziqi Wang submitted a clutch performance to win 8-7 over Amherst's Burney and Marchalik; Fedor Andrienko and Alex Hagermoser also teamed up to record a close victory over Binghamton's Cestaro and Lourenco, 8-6. Although the latter fell just short to a team from Dartmouth in the following round, Doehler and Wang advanced to tomorrow's final with a second straight win, edging Dartmouth's Roko Glasnovic and Diego Pedraza by a score of 8-6. If the junior duo manages to win hardware on Sunday, they will have made a strong case to play together going forward.
In Draw Two of doubles action, freshman duo Ryan Cheng and Andrew Heller notched a first round victory before falling to Amherst's Jayson Fung and Justin Sun, 8-6, in the second round. As for Draw Three doubles competition, which featured a round robin format, Yale's Nathan Brown and Dennis Wang dominated, winning convincingly over teams from Amherst and Binghamton. The sophomore pairing looked impressive on Saturday, and will face Brown's Mladen Mitak and Charles Tan tomorrow in a match that will determine the round robin winner.
As for Saturday's singles matches, three Bulldogs – Andrienko, Cheng and D. Wang – managed to record victories. Playing in the consolation semifinals of Draw Two, Andrienko edged a tough competitor in Amherst's Oscar Burney, securing crucial service breaks in a 6-3, 6-4 victory; he is set to face Brown freshman Jacob Walker in tomorrow's consolation final. The freshman Cheng also posted a straight-set victory over Amherst's Zach Bessette to advance to the final round of Draw Three of the Invitational; this victory improved Cheng's singles record on the season to an impressive 9-1. As for Dennis Wang, the sophomore continued to excel with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Binghamton's Inigo Saez; he will bring a 7-2 overall singles record into tomorrow's Draw Five final. It should also be noted that Heller and Z. Wang submitted strong performances on Saturday, although both fell just short in three-set matches to Ivy League competitors.
For the second straight day, the Elis found great success against some of the best players in the Northeast region. Such high-level match experience will serve the Bulldogs well when team competition begins in the coming months and results will start to count toward the team record. For now, however, the Bulldogs' focus will be on tomorrow's slate of championship matches.
Report by Cameron Ferguson '18, Yale Sports Publicity
FULL RESULTS – Dartmouth Invitational, Day Two
Singles:
Draw 1
Semifinals:
Fliegner (DART) def. Doehler (Yale)
6-1, 6-2
Horneffer (DART) def. Z. Wang (Yale)
6-3, 5-7, 6-4
Draw 2
Consolation Semifinals:
Walker (Brown) def. Heller (Yale)
6-4, 3-6, 6-1
Andrienko (Yale) def. Burney (Amherst)
6-3, 6-4
Draw 3
Semifinals:
Cheng (Yale) def. Bessette (Amherst)
6-4, 6-2
Grabill (DART) def. Hagermoser (Yale)
7-5, 6-3
Draw 4
Semifinals:
Nath (Bing) def. N. Brown (Yale)
6-3, 6-1
Arocho (Brown) def. Photiades (Yale)
6-3, 6-0
Draw 5
Semifinals:
D. Wang (Yale) def. Saez (Bing)
6-0, 6-2
Doubles:
Draw 1
Quarterfinals:
Z. Wang/Doehler (Yale) def. Burney/Marchalik (Amherst)
8-7
Andrienko/Hagermoser (Yale) def. Lourenco/Cestarollo (Bing)
8-6
Semifinals:
Z. Wang/Doehler (Yale) def. Glasnovic/Pedraza (DART)
8-6
Horneffer/Schmidt (DART) def. Andrienko/Hagermoser (Yale)
8-6
Draw 2
Quarterfinals:
Heller/Cheng (Yale) def. Fliegner/Haig (DART)
8-4
Grabill/Midgley (DART) def. Photiades/Adams (Yale)
8-3
Semifinals:
Sun/Fung (Amherst) def. Heller/Cheng (Yale)
8-6
Draw 3
Round Robin, Rounds 1&2:
Tan/Mitak (Brown) def. Paridis/Silver (Amherst)
8-3
D. Wang/Brown (Yale) def. Paradis/Silver (Amherst)
8-3
